41,036 research outputs found
Status of three-neutrino oscillation parameters, circa 2013
The standard three-neutrino (3nu) oscillation framework is being increasingly
refined by results coming from different sets of experiments, using neutrinos
from solar, atmospheric, accelerator and reactor sources. At present, each of
the known oscillation parameters [the two squared mass gaps (delta m^2, Delta
m^2) and the three mixing angles (theta_12}, theta_13, theta_23)] is dominantly
determined by a single class of experiments. Conversely, the unknown parameters
[the mass hierarchy, the theta_23 octant and the CP-violating phase delta] can
be currently constrained only through a combined analysis of various
(eventually all) classes of experiments. In the light of recent new results
coming from reactor and accelerator experiments, and of their interplay with
solar and atmospheric data, we update the estimated N-sigma ranges of the known
3nu parameters, and revisit the status of the unknown ones. Concerning the
hierarchy, no significant difference emerges between normal and inverted mass
ordering. A slight overall preference is found for theta_23 in the first octant
and for nonzero CP violation with sin delta < 0; however, for both parameters,
such preference exceeds 1 sigma only for normal hierarchy. We also discuss the
correlations and stability of the oscillation parameters within different
combinations of data sets.Comment: Updated and revised version, accepted for publication in PRD. The
analysis includes the latest (March 2014) T2K disappearance data: all the
figures and the numerical results have been updated, and parts of the text
have been revised accordingl
Long Lived Large Type II Strings: decay within compactification
Motivated also by recent revival of interest about metastable string states
(as cosmic strings or in accelerator physics), we study the decay, in presence
of dimensional compactification, of a particular superstring state, which was
proven to be remarkably long-lived in the flat uncompactified scenario. We
compute the decay rate by an exact numerical evaluation of the imaginary part
of the one-loop propagator. For large radii of compactification, the result
tends to the fully uncompactified one (lifetime T = const M^5/g^2), as
expected, the string mainly decaying by massless radiation. For small radii,
the features of the decay (emitted states, initial mass dependence,....)
change, depending on how the string wraps on the compact dimensions.Comment: 32 pages, 24 text plus appendices, 4 figure
A new type of accelerator for charged particle cancer therapy
Non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient accelerators (ns-FFAGs) show great potential for the
acceleration of protons and light ions for the treatment of certain cancers. They have unique features as they combine
techniques from the existing types of accelerators, cyclotrons and synchrotrons, and hence look to have advantages over
both for this application. However, these unique features meant that it was necessary to build one of these accelerators to
show that it works and to undertake a detailed conceptual design of a medical machine. Both of these have now been
done. This paper will describe the concepts of this type of accelerator, show results from the proof-of-principle machine
(EMMA) and described the medical machine (PAMELA)
On the formation of TeV radiation in LS 5039
The recent detections of TeV gamma-rays from compact binary systems show that
relativistic outflows (jets or winds) are sites of effective acceleration of
particles up to multi-TeV energies. In this paper, we discuss the conditions of
acceleration and radiation of ultra-relativistic electrons in LS 5039, the
gamma-ray emitting binary system for which the highest quality TeV data are
available. Assuming that the gamma-ray emitter is a jet-like structure, we
performed detailed numerical calculations of the energy spectrum and
lightcurves accounting for the acceleration efficiency, the location of the
accelerator, the speed of the emitting flow, the inclination angle of the
system, as well as specific features related to anisotropic inverse Compton
scattering and pair production. We conclude that the accelerator should not be
deep inside the binary system unless we assume a very efficient acceleration
rate. We show that within the IC scenario both the gamma-ray spectrum and flux
are strongly orbital phase dependent. Formally, our model can reproduce, for
specific sets of parameter values, the energy spectrum of gamma-rays reported
by HESS for wide orbital phase intervals. However, the physical properties of
the source can be constrained only by observations capable of providing
detailed energy spectra for narrow orbital phase intervals ().Comment: 14 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, submitted on
July 11, 200
NullHop: A Flexible Convolutional Neural Network Accelerator Based on Sparse Representations of Feature Maps
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have become the dominant neural network
architecture for solving many state-of-the-art (SOA) visual processing tasks.
Even though Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) are most often used in training
and deploying CNNs, their power efficiency is less than 10 GOp/s/W for
single-frame runtime inference. We propose a flexible and efficient CNN
accelerator architecture called NullHop that implements SOA CNNs useful for
low-power and low-latency application scenarios. NullHop exploits the sparsity
of neuron activations in CNNs to accelerate the computation and reduce memory
requirements. The flexible architecture allows high utilization of available
computing resources across kernel sizes ranging from 1x1 to 7x7. NullHop can
process up to 128 input and 128 output feature maps per layer in a single pass.
We implemented the proposed architecture on a Xilinx Zynq FPGA platform and
present results showing how our implementation reduces external memory
transfers and compute time in five different CNNs ranging from small ones up to
the widely known large VGG16 and VGG19 CNNs. Post-synthesis simulations using
Mentor Modelsim in a 28nm process with a clock frequency of 500 MHz show that
the VGG19 network achieves over 450 GOp/s. By exploiting sparsity, NullHop
achieves an efficiency of 368%, maintains over 98% utilization of the MAC
units, and achieves a power efficiency of over 3TOp/s/W in a core area of
6.3mm. As further proof of NullHop's usability, we interfaced its FPGA
implementation with a neuromorphic event camera for real time interactive
demonstrations
Neutrino masses and mixings: Status of known and unknown parameters
Within the standard 3nu mass-mixing framework, we present an up-to-date
global analysis of neutrino oscillation data (as of January 2016), including
the latest available results from experiments with atmospheric neutrinos
(Super-Kamiokande and IceCube DeepCore), at accelerators (first T2K anti-nu and
NOvA nu runs in both appearance and disappearance mode), and at short-baseline
reactors (Daya Bay and RENO far/near spectral ratios), as well as a reanalysis
of older KamLAND data in the light of the "bump" feature recently observed in
reactor spectra. We discuss improved constraints on the five known oscillation
parameters (delta m^2, |Delta m^2|, sin^2theta_12, sin^2theta_13,
sin^2theta_23), and the status of the three remaining unknown parameters: the
mass hierarchy, the theta_23 octant, and the possible CP-violating phase delta.
With respect to previous global fits, we find that the reanalysis of KamLAND
data induces a slight decrease of both delta m^2 and sin^2theta_12, while the
latest accelerator and atmospheric data induce a slight increase of |Delta
m^2|. Concerning the unknown parameters, we confirm the previous intriguing
preference for negative values of sin(delta) [with best-fit values around
sin(delta) ~ -0.9], but we find no statistically significant indication about
the theta_23 octant or the mass hierarchy (normal or inverted). Assuming an
alternative (so-called LEM) analysis of NOvA data, some delta ranges can be
excluded at >3 sigma, and the normal mass hierarchy appears to be slightly
favored at 90% C.L. We also describe in detail the covariances of selected
pairs of oscillation parameters. Finally, we briefly discuss the implications
of the above results on the three non-oscillation observables sensitive to the
(unknown) absolute nu mass scale: the sum of nu masses, the effective nu_e
mass, and the effective Majorana mass.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Invited contribution prepared for the
Nuclear Physics B Special Issue on "Neutrino Oscillations" celebrating the
Nobel Prize in Physics 201
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